


Dan-sel in Distress

by NeverBeenAWriter



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dan Howell Is Not A YouTuber, Friendship, M/M, Phil Lester Is Not A YouTuber, Strangers to Lovers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-18
Updated: 2019-07-18
Packaged: 2020-06-30 14:26:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19855075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeverBeenAWriter/pseuds/NeverBeenAWriter
Summary: Dan get's his truck stuck in the sand in the middle of the dessert and receives help from a beautiful stranger (Phil Obvi)Inspired by Cornelia's desert Instagram stories.





	Dan-sel in Distress

Dan cursed his luck, of course of all the people this could happen to it would be him. The one time he decided to say "fuck it." and go on a road trip by himself he would end up in the middle of the desert with his truck stuck in the sand. He sighed loudly. The sun was beating down on him and as always he was dressed fully in black, he regretted that decision now, especially since he was in the middle of no where, the chances of him running into another person were so slim that what he looked like really didn't matter. He had always cared a bit too much about his aesthetic and was now paying the price. 

I guess you could say this road trip was a midlife crisis of a man who didn't expect to live past 50 due to global warming and general would crisis' making the planet unlivable. That is to say that though Dan was in his mid twenties he was going through a crisis he was choosing to call midlife. 

He had been fired from his job a week ago, he was renting month to month and when his lease ran out he decided not to renew it. He had a small social circle but not enough to keep him in one place and with no obligations he decided to stick his stuff in storage, pack his truck and go on a road trip to Vegas. He'd spent summers there as a teen, his family was well off and liked to travel and that was some of the best memories he had. So when he felt his life falling apart that's where he felt drawn to.

Now though, now he was doubting himself. He'd never traveled a long distance by himself and he'd definitely never been stuck like this. He cursed again and got put of the car, assessing the situations and his surroundings to try and come up with a plan. There was no way he could push the car all on his own, he was tall and strong enough but he wasn't a super hero. He unplugged his phone from the car radio and checked for a signal. "Of-fucking-course not," he muttered seeing no reception. This is why Daniel Howell, king if fails and awkward situations didn't try to do things on his own.

He tried to recall how long it had been since he’d seen the last pit stop, he guessed it was at least 20 minutes by car, not an unwalkable distance but he was never the fittest of people, and the full sun and unforgiving heat made it seem impossible. He could walk in the other direction and hope there was one sooner, but if he was wrong he’d have to walk all the way back. He sat down beside the truck on the shaded side and gulped down water from his bottle. He pulled off the black hoodie he was wearing, deciding being topless was better than getting heatstroke even if it wasn’t his preference. 

After a couple minutes he got up again, deciding the only solution that made sense was to try and walk back toward the last pit stop. He packed his backpack with all the water he had on him and took a deep breath. This was going to be his own personal version of hell. He was barely fifteen minutes from the truck when he truly realized how exhausting it was to walk through sand. “How badly do you want to live, Howell?” he said to himself with a sigh. He had many regrets in his life, but this was officially his biggest. There was a small nagging part of his brain telling him to just give up, he had always been a bit overdramatic. 

Dan didn’t believe in a higher power, fate, or signs, but when he seen the shape of a car coming into his vision he had a second of doubt. “Thank the lord,” he said with a chuckle at how much he’d stressed over nothing. He waved the car down and it slowed to a stop. The man inside the vehicle rolled down the window and gave him a smile. “Hey, I’m sorry to bother you but I was driving through here and accidently went off road and now my truck is stuck in the sand,” Dan said, too tired and hot to be embarrassed about his mistake.

“Oh no, that’s not good,” the man replied. “Which way is it?” he asked, looking around.

“It’s about five minutes that way,” Dan replied gesturing with his hands.

“Okay, no problem, I’ll help you get it out,” the man replied. “Get in,” he added, leaning across the passenger seat and opening the door. Dan smiled and thanked him before quickly getting into the air conditioned car with a contented sigh. “Do you need water?” the man asked, passing him an unopened bottle. 

“No, I’m okay I got my own,” Dan said, pulling his bottle out of his bag and chugging half of it. “I’m Dan by the way,” he said, realizing in his overheated state he’d forgotten to introduce himself. “Thought you should know the name of the person whose life you’re saving,” he added with a laugh.

The man laughed as well. “I’m Phil,” he said with a smile. “And I don’t think I’m saving your life, you most likely could have made it.” 

“You don’t know how seriously unfit I am,” Dan replied chuckling.

Phil glanced at him for a quick second before his eyes returned to the road. “I don’t know, you look fit enough to me,” he said. Dan blushed, forgetting he was still topless, he felt the need to cover himself so he brought his arms over his chest. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable,” Phil said, looking concerned. “I don’t often think before I speak enough.” 

“It’s fine,” Dan replied, with a smile. Phil seemed nice enough and genuinely looked upset that he’d made him uncomfortable. Plus, he couldn’t blame the other man, not really, not when he was thinking similar thoughts. Now that Dan was able to actually think again, he realized Phil was stunning. Tall, great smile, incredible eyes, styled hair, nice arms, and well dressed, even in this awful heat he looked put together somehow. Dan was impressed. “What are you doing out here?” Dan asked, not sure why anyone would be in the middle of nowhere despite him being there as well.

“I am on the way to visit my family,” Phil replied with a warm smile. “We go on family vacations every year and this time we picked Vegas.”

“That’s fun,” Dan said. “Me and my family used to go to Vegas every summer, that’s why I’m here, thought maybe I could go on my own and relive those memories.”

“You’re here by yourself?” Phil asked.

“Yeah, my family is too busy to do stuff together anymore,” Dan answered. His family had money because they had their hands in many different business; it allowed Dan freedom because money was never really an issue but it also meant they rarely seen each other and when they did it was normally still involving business of some kind.

“That sucks,” Phil said. “You should be careful doing a road trip by yourself in a place where reception is patchy.”

“Yeah, I learned that the hard way,” Dan replied with a laugh. He seen his truck off the side of the road. “Obviously that’s it,” he said, pointing.

“I assumed,” Phil said with a chuckle. They pulled to a stop on the left-hand side of the car and got out together. “So the car is stuck but it’s fully working, yeah?” Phil asked, approaching it.

“It was when it got stuck,” Dan said with a shrug. “I don’t know much about cars,” he admitted.

“Neither do I,” Phil replied sheepishly. 

“So what I’m hearing is that we are clearly the most qualified men for this job,” Dan replied sarcastically. 

“Definitely,” Phil jokingly agreed with a goofy grin. “Let’s find something to put under the back tires so that it has solid ground to catch.” Dan nodded and they both split in different directions to search for flat enough rocks. Once they both found one and wedged them under the tires they returned to the back of the truck. “Ready to push?” Phil asked.

Dan chuckled. “You sound like I’m about to give birth,” he replied.

Phil laughed. “Oh god, what sit-com plot, pregnant lady gets stuck in a desert, stranger finds her and tries to help and she suddenly goes into labor.” 

“Yeah, cause it really makes sense that a pregnant lady would be alone in a dessert when she’s close to giving birth,” Dan replied shaking his head. “Sit-com’s have some of the worst cliché’s.”

“I’m just glad that’s not how life works because I don’t know enough about birth,” Phil responded. 

“Agreed,” Dan replied. He put his hands on the truck and Phil did the same. “Three, two one, go” Dan counted down and they both pushed when he said go. The weight of the car was a lot but after a few minutes they were able to get enough momentum to push it up onto the rocks and back onto solid ground. “Oh my god…. We actually did it,” Dan said, stunned into silence.

Phil chuckled. “You had a lot of faith in us it seems,” he replied rolling his eyes. “Of course we got it. We’re two strong men,” he added, posing like a bodybuilder but with a goofy expression.

“Sure, mate, you look like a Greek god,” Dan replied with a laugh.

Phil returned to a normal pose and gave a cute smile. “Start the car and make sure you can get back on the road.”

Dan did as he said and got into the truck starting it up and slowly driving back onto the road. “We did it!” Dan cheered, rolling down the window and giving Phil a thumbs up. 

Phil approached the window with a grin. “Is it okay if I follow you until we get to the next place? I’d be a lot more comfortable knowing you made it to where you’re going safely.”

Dan smiled, surprised this stranger cared so much. “Sure, we are going the same way anyway so one of us is going to be forced to follow the other,” he pointed out.

“Right,” Phil replied with a chuckle. 

“Seriously, thanks a lot for helping me out.” Dan couldn’t help but stare into Phil’s beautiful eyes, up close they were mesmerizing.

“No thanks needed, I couldn’t just leave you here,” Phil replied. “I’ll see you when we get to the next pit stop I guess.” 

“Yeah,” Dan replied. “See you then,” he replied with a smile. Phil walked back to his own car behind Dan’s and when Dan started driving again Phil followed behind him, keeping a safe distance but close enough that when Dan looked in his rearview mirror he could see Phil’s gentle smile and he couldn’t help but smile back.

**Author's Note:**

> This is just something I felt the desire to write for some reason after seeing Cornelia's insta story, let me know if it's something you'd actually be interested in seeing more of :)
> 
> Also the title is a joke and will be changed is I actually keep this going haha


End file.
